Nottingham City Council has prosecuted 14 rogue taxi drivers in the past six months for illegally picking up passengers in town.

Only the dark green Nottingham City Hackney cabs are allowed to be hailed, whereas minicabs must be pre-booked.

But these licensed drivers had been ignoring the rules and have now racked up nearly £8,000 in fines and 87 points on their licenses between them.

Nicola Heaton, portfolio holder for Community Services said: "It is imperative that we catch these people and bring them to justice. This is a strong message to others out there who think they can get away with illegally plying for hire in our city."

http://www.nottinghampost.com/Rogue-taxi-drivers-fined-nearly-8-000-illegally/story-27541970-detail/story.html#ixzz3hrgbO1Zb
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 ROSSENDALE

 Driver made false insurance claim after crashing into taxi and Italian restaurant
Jon Macpherson

A driver who crashed into a taxi and an Italian restaurant and then made false claims to his insurers that the car had been stolen has avoided jail.

Dominic Hall was speeding at 60mph along Blackburn Road in Haslingden and ‘seemingly out of control’ when he collided with a taxi.

Burnley Crown Court heard that he then ‘completely demolished’ a set of traffic lights before ploughing into the front door of the La Veranda restaurant.

Hall, 24, fled and slept over at a friend’s house in Haslingden before falsely claiming to insurers that the car had been stolen before the crash.

Hall pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, fraud, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident. He also admitted a separate offence of possessing an offensive weapon.

He was given a seven-month jail sentence, suspended for two years with 200 hours’ unpaid work, five points on his driving licence, and ordered to pay £200 costs.

Louise Santamera, prosecuting, said the crash happened at around 10.30pm on October 5 last year just after four witnesses had got into the VW Passat taxi oustide the Italian restaurant.

She told the court that one of the witnesses, Joseph Spiteri-Braysford, said that Hall’s Vauxhall Astra was driving at them ‘seemingly out of control’.

He said that all the passengers in the taxi had ‘braced themselves anticipating a crash’ and that the taxi driver tried to take ‘evasive action’ but was unsuccessful.

Miss Santamera told the court that Hall’s car ‘collided with the rear offside wheel arch before completely demolishing a set of traffic lights and eventually the front door of the restaurant.’

She told the court that Mr Spiteri-Braysford started to run after Hall but soon went back to his wife and the taxi driver who were both shaken up. The crash caused £2,500 damage to the taxi and £1,000 damage to the restaurant.

The court heard that the next day Hall, of Otterburn Grove, Burnley, called Aviva claiming the car had been stolen and then made a full detailed statement to back it up.

Hall claimed he had been out at a party in Haslingden the night before and got ‘drunk’ and when he woke up at 5.30pm the next day realised his car keys were missing.

But he was later identified in a police video identification parade.

http://www.rossendalefreepress.co.uk/news/local-news/driver-made-false-insurance-claim-9790204
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LONDON. Nottinghill Bogus Minicab Rape
 

 
 http://www.standard.co.uk/news/city-worker-raped-after-getting-into-minicab-after-night-out-10436968.html